


The Bonds That Tie

by Asuka



Category: Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
Genre: Gen, Series Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-01-13
Packaged: 2018-01-08 14:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asuka/pseuds/Asuka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snippets of the relationship between the lord and his most dedicated vassal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bonds That Tie

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place fairly early in canon, but requires knowledge of events that take place late in the series.

Ryuunosuke comes into Takeru’s room one night. He kneels the proper distance away and keeps his eyes trained on the floor. “My lord,” he says, not in the clear, confident voice Takeru is used to hearing, but a much quieter one. 

“Yes?”

“You will graciously forgive my forwardness, I hope, but I thought it might be best if…” The antiquated formalities pour smoothly out of his mouth, but his own words falter. He tries again. “I cannot help but notice that the others have not been trained in the same way I have, and should you… should my lord require support services of a different sort from one of us, I would advise him to approach me rather than one of the others, as they might… might misunderstand your intentions. Although I am but your humble retainer, I am willing to do anything in my power for you, so please…” He raises his eyes, and they’re filled with worry.

Unnerved, Takeru nods. “I will consider your words and inform you if I need anything.”

Ryuunosuke casts his eyes down again. “Understood.” He leaves the room again, evidently relieved, and Takeru returns to his calligraphy.

It isn’t until a week later that he realizes what Ryuunosuke meant.

-

He can feel his lord’s eyes on him, and it stings knowing that he can only be disappointed by his performance in battle.

“Can you walk?” Takeru asks. 

Ryuunosuke grits his teeth. “Do not concern yourself with me. I will be fine.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Takeru says, and pulls him to his feet, supporting his weight as the world goes black for a second.

He knows that a lord must look after his retainers just as it is their job to protect him. But more than his injuries, it hurts to look at his lord’s bruised and bloody face, it hurts to feel the blood from a light gash dripping off his arm and onto Takeru’s neck. It’s painful being this close to him, feeling how his steps falter from time to time. It’s agonizing to know that his lord must be in immense pain due to his failure to protect him, and that his own weakness is causing him even more pain. 

What hurts the most is the small voice inside of him insisting that whatever the situation, whatever the responsibilities of their stations might be, he ought to be the one supporting Takeru. No matter what.

-

Takeru finds himself appreciating Ryuunosuke more as time goes on. The personality that bothered him so much at the start has become familiar, and reassuringly predictable. It’s easy to slip into the familiar roles of lord and vassal with him, every interaction following the patterns he’s learned since childhood.

It’s no less painful to deceive him than any of the others, but some cowardly part of him wonders if, when the truth comes out, Ryuunosuke at least might not hate him. He knows all the rules and traditions and expectations of the clan. He’ll understand why it was necessary for him to be Lady Kaoru’s stand-in. Surely, even if the others despise him for making them risk their lives time and time again for a common samurai, Ryuunosuke will be able to forgive him.

He clings to that hope even as Ryuunosuke showers him with praise he doesn’t deserve and respect he never earned, and hates himself for it.

-

“I would die for you, my lord.” The words slip out of his mouth and though he wishes he could take them back, they’re honest words, so he’ll stand by them.

Takeru leans on his practice sword and fixes him with a strange look. “Why?” he says eventually.

“Well… of course I would! It’s my duty to defend you, and with the fate of the world at stake, my life would be but a meager price to pay. After all, only you can seal Doukoku, my lord.” It’s not precisely the answer he wants to give, but it’s what comes out, and while he is struggling to find a way to explain himself, Takeru turns away with a curt “Of course.”

He stands alone in the practice yard for a long while, trying to convince himself that the look of pain that crossed Takeru’s face was just a trick of the light. He needs to run after him and apologize, but he’s not yet sure what to say that won’t hurt him even more. Eventually, he manages to whisper “Even if you weren’t my lord…” and turns to go inside.

-

The question wasn’t “Why would you say that,” it was “Why would you say that now?” When they were all fighting for their lives every day, when they were lucky to get out of battle with fractures and sprains rather than broken bones and fatalities, what made those words necessary? He doesn’t know, and he almost doesn’t think Ryuunosuke himself knows why he said it. 

Perhaps the real problem was that the words felt too true. It was one thing to know what the consequences of his deceit were, to hide that knowledge deep down where he only had to confront it in the desolation of a sleepless night. To have his darkest suspicions confirmed to his face by the retainer who trusted him with almost blind devotion had broken something inside of him that he hadn’t thought was there to break, and until he can repair that part of him and hide it somewhere deep inside where it can never be broken again, he has to close himself off. He has to become the lord he has never truly been, and he has to become stronger, so that he can protect him. So he can protect all those whose lives he had been given. So the fighting will end.

He can't end it himself, but he will perform his duty until the day the one who can does. And he swears that not one of them will have to lay down their life for him.


End file.
